Sex, Contraception, and the Catholic Church

Of all the difficult things the Catholic Church teaches, its teaching about contraception is quite possibly the hardest for our culture to accept. Most people today can’t fathom why it would be wrong to purposely remove the procreative potential of sex, so they think the Church’s teaching on the matter is simply laughable. At best, they see it as a relic of a time when reproductive biology was greatly misunderstood, and at worst, they think it is just one more way the Church tries to control and oppress women.

However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The Catholic position on contraception is not based on outdated biology, nor is it simply the tool of a tyrannical patriarchy. Instead, the teaching is actually backed up by a comprehensive understanding of sex and marriage that is much more nuanced and thought out than just about any other today. In this article, we are going to look at that understanding and see how the Church’s teaching on contraception fits into it.

Why Sex?

To begin, I want to ask a simple question: why do married couples have sex? That probably seems like a silly question, but hear me out. I’m not asking why spouses enjoy having sex or what motivates them to do so. Instead, I want to know what role sex plays within marriage. The first answer that probably pops into people’s heads is that it is simply a fun activity that spouses enjoy doing together, and that’s not wrong. However, it is inadequate. Sex is different from mere fun activities because it calls for exclusivity. Married people can do fun things with whomever they like, but they can only have sex with their spouses. Sex shares in the exclusivity of the marriage itself, so it is part of the very fabric of the marital relationship in a way that no mere fun activity ever could be.

Once we realize this, we might then say that sex simply brings couples closer together emotionally because it is so intimate; when spouses have sex, they let themselves see and touch each other in a way that only they can. However, this simply pushes the question back a step. Yes, sex is very intimate, but why? Why is it more intimate than, say, putting your finger in someone’s ear? It seems that sex doesn’t bring spouses together simply because it is intimate; rather, it is intimate precisely because it unites them so closely. As a result, merely pointing out the intimacy involved does not actually explain the role it plays in marriage. To do that, we need to find out what makes it such an intimate experience.

One Flesh

The Bible tells us that marriage involves a “one flesh” union of husband and wife (Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:3-6), and this union is realized when they have sex (1 Corinthians 6:15-16). Now, most people take this to be a metaphor to describe how close spouses are supposed to be, but I would suggest that it’s more than that. When spouses have sex, they become “one flesh” in a very real way.

To see what I mean, we have to think about our bodies. We all have many organs, but they’re all united as parts of a single body. And what makes them so? What unites our various organs into a single organism? There are probably several different ways we can answer that question, but let’s focus on just one: they all work together for the good of the whole. The various biological processes our bodies perform (such as respiration, digestion, and movement) all involve multiple organs working together for the health and well-being of the entire organism.

Spousal Union

And what does this have to do with sex? Well, when a man and a woman have sex, they perform the biological process of reproduction. Their reproductive organs work together and perform a single biological process that benefits the whole (in this case, the whole couple), much like the various organs of a single person work together to perform other processes. Granted, they don’t literally become one organism, but they form the closest biological union that two organisms could ever have.

That is significant because marriage is a complete union of two persons on every level (spiritual, emotional, physical, etc.), so sex forms the physical part of that union. This may not sound very romantic at first, but remember, we are not just souls trapped in bodies. Rather, we are body-soul composites, which means that our bodies really are us. Consequently, the biological unity brought about by sex is actually very personal. It unites two persons, not just two bodies, in a very deep and intimate way, a way that nothing else ever could.

The Big Objection

There is, however, one big objection that almost everyone raises when they encounter this view of sex and marriage: when infertile couples have sex, they can’t reproduce, so it seems that they can’t perform the biological process of reproduction. However, that is actually not true. See, there is a reason why I have been using the word “process” here. Reproduction is a process, not an instantaneous event, and that makes all the difference.

To see what I mean, consider the process of digestion. It begins in our mouth when we chew our food, and it ends hours later when our stomach and intestines have completed their work. It’s a process that takes time, and it can be interrupted, for instance by throwing up. However, even if that happens, even if I throw up just a few minutes after eating, I have still completed part of the process. My organs were still working together (albeit for a short time) for a single goal; they still functioned as parts of a single organism. Granted, they didn’t complete the process, but since they performed part of it, we can still say that I performed the biological process of digestion.

Similarly, when an infertile couple has sex, their reproductive organs work together in the same way. They perform part of the process of reproduction, so even though it cannot be completed, they still unite biologically. Their organs work together for the good of the whole, so they do in fact come together and perform a single biological process. Consequently, they unite just as much as fertile couples do when they have sex.

Contraception

So where does contraception fit into all this? To answer that question, we need to divide contraceptives into two categories. First, we have what are often called barrier methods (such as condoms), which physically block the man’s seed from entering the woman. Secondly, there are chemical methods (such as the infamous “pill”), which use various chemicals to affect sperm or egg cells and render individual sexual acts sterile. From what we’ve seen in this article, the problem with barrier methods is fairly simple to grasp. Since the husband’s seed does not actually enter his wife (rather, he simply ejaculates into the barrier), the couple don’t actually perform the biological process of reproductive. As a result, they do not unite biologically, so their sexual act cannot unite them as husband and wife.

The problem with chemical methods is a bit different. Instead of involving the physical act itself, it has to do with the couple’s wills. When spouses contracept in this way, they are setting their wills against the reproductive nature of their sexual act. This is significant because sex unites them precisely because of its reproductive nature, so they are also setting their wills against the union it brings about. You can’t will the union without also willing the very thing that creates it. As a result, when couples use chemical contraceptives, they are actually willing against the function of their sexual acts in their marriage, and that is clearly wrong.

By

JP Nunez has been a theology nerd since high school. He has master's degrees in both theology and philosophy (with a concentration in bioethics) from Franciscan University of Steubenville, and he spent three years in Catholic University of America's doctoral program in biblical studies before realizing that academia isn't where he wants to be. During his time in Steubenville, he worked for two years as an intern at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, where his responsibilities included answering theological questions and helping to format and edit their Journey Through Scripture Bible studies. He blogs at JP Nunez: Understanding the Faith Through Scripture.

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